Modern mobile electronic devices, particularly ones suitable to be handheld, are capable of accessing and delivering vast amounts of different types of media and information. The overall usefulness of these devices has made them ubiquitous in everyday life. As such, users of these devices have incorporated them into their lifestyle. While many interactions with a mobile device are, as the name would suggest, optimized by holding the device in one or both hands, some interactions are improved by outsourcing the physical support of the device to an independent support structure. Such outsourcing allows a user to maintain a hand-like viewing angle of the device without needing to hold it, thereby freeing the user to perform other one and two-handed tasks (e.g. cooking, eating, drawing, building, playing an instrument, etc.). Support structures, however, are often cumbersome to use and frequently provide inadequate device support and/or viewing angles. Additionally, these support structures do not provide easy access to picking up the device. Modern mobile devices have a very short profile (i.e. side walls), as such they are difficult to pick up from their sides. Typical stands do not offer alternatives to picking these mobile devices up from their sides. These shortcomings can needlessly damage the user's experience by delaying the start of a user's interaction with their device, increasing the likelihood of device drops while the user is placing or removing the device as a result of a poor grip on the device, or otherwise, interrupting, or diminishing from the ongoing multitasking experience. Known support structures rely on shelves, clasps, clamps, straps, special cases, or other hardware to hold the devices in place without providing access to the back of the device for lifting. These additional retention features either increase the difficulty of using the stand or significantly take away from aesthetic appeal.
Additionally, traditional gravity-based support structures are limited in the versatility and usefulness of the mobile device's accessibility when positioned thereon. In one example, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2013/0299668 illustrates a stand that provides a continuous back support surface with no access to pick up the mobile device from its back. This is a common issue with laying mobile devices on such stands, desks, tables, pads, or the like in addition to using them with known supports.
In light of the various shortcomings of known stands discussed herein, improved devices that overcome these, as well as other shortcomings, are desirable.